


Silver Rings

by hmweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alchemy, Banned Together Bingo, Confessions, Getting Together, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25582588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: Albus is determined to learn how to make silver but don't ask him why.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 70
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Silver Rings

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts:  
> Hogwarts - Write about someone "getting the girl/guy"  
> QLFC - Your character needs to learn a new skill, one that is very difficult to achieve.  
> Banned Together Bingo - confuses children

Albus carefully mixed the substances together, keeping an eye on how they interacted as he went. At the same time, he did his best to ignore Teddy and Victoire’s little son Brayden, who toddled around his workspace oblivious to any possible dangers.

He hated being home for the simple fact that he always got put on babysitting duty while his siblings made excuses about seeing friends or playing Quidditch. No one thought his “dabbling” with Alchemy meant that he deserved some time to himself too. What hope did a guy between his sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts have of actually succeeding at something as difficult as Alchemy anyway?

“What are you doing?” Brayden asked, pulling over a chair and climbing on it to peer into Albus’ cauldron.

Albus eyed him uneasily as he leant over the boiling substance. At five years old, the boy was at just the right level of both intelligence and naivety to get himself in a lot of trouble.

“Alchemy,” Albus answered snappily, motioning for Brayden to get down from the chair.

The boy did as instructed but hovered near Albus’ legs like a shadow.

“What’s ‘Alchemy’?” he asked, tilting his head back to stare at Albus with a furrowed brow.

“The practice of transforming one kind of matter into a different kind of matter,” Albus answered without glancing down at him.

The definition made no more sense to Brayden than the word ‘Alchemy’ had.

“What’s ‘matter’?” he asked.

Albus sighed and ran a hand over his eyes. The heat of the potion was getting to him anyway. Stepping away from the cauldron, he stooped down to Brayden’s level.

“Everything you can touch is called matter,” he said. “Basically. I want to change normal rocks into pure silver.”

He thought it made perfect sense, but the tiny crease between Brayden’s eyebrows didn’t go away.

“Why?” he asked.

Albus shrugged. There was no way he was getting into the nitty gritty of his reasons with a five-year-old who would tattle on him without a second thought.

“For the challenge mostly, but also, silver is worth a lot of money, Bray. Having some of it couldn’t hurt.”

Brayden rose onto his tiptoes in a failed attempt to look into Albus’ cauldron again. His eyes could barely make it above the edge of the table.

“Can’t you buy silver at the store?” he asked. “I helped Daddy buy some for Mummy last Christmas.”

Albus gave the potion one last stir and removed it from the heat, making sure to turn off the burner before Brayden did something mischievous.

“Yes,” he said, “but that’s not the point. Like I said, I want to do something challenging. It’s like when you do a drawing. You could buy a painting at the store that’s really pretty, but doing it yourself is fun, right?”

When Brayden’s confusion eased ever so slightly, Albus felt very proud of himself. He turned back to his work as if his job with the kid had been completed, but Brayden quickly spoke again while once more attaching himself to Albus’ leg. Albus ignored him but was extra careful when he began laddling the cooled potion into vials.

“What will you do with the silver after you make it?” Brayden asked.

Albus was thankful that he was turned away from the kid. His hand shook, almost splattering potion over the table. He poured it back into the cauldron and laid the ladle down.

He looked down at Brayden, suddenly even less amused by the adamant curiosity in his eyes.

“I don’t know,” he said with a hint of fire in his voice. “Why don’t you go play with your toys?”

He motioned at the pile of things his parents had dropped off along with him. Brayden’s shoulders slumped as he wandered over to them and grabbed his favourite stuffed elephant, clutching it to his chest.

Albus almost felt guilty as the kid’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout, but he pushed it away as he turned back to his potion.

* * *

The silver was heavy in Albus’ hand despite its small size. Getting just the amount needed for a ring had taken Albus longer than he’d thought it would. Months spent hunched over his cauldron and vials and various substances, and he’d been left with a small rock of the stuff. Or maybe it was more accurate to call it a pebble.

How much of it he had didn’t really matter. He beamed as he hurried up to the common room where Scorpius was hunched over his Transfiguration homework. His best friend was too absorbed in Animagus theory to glance up as Albus slid into the seat across from him.

Without a word, Albus placed the silver on the open book in front of him. Scorpius’ eyes widened when he saw it, and his jaw hung open as he looked up at Albus.

“You did it?” he asked in a disbelieving voice.

Albus scowled at him.

“Thanks for being so confident that I’d manage. It’s so great having a friend like you, Scorp.”

Scorpius sighed and shook his head.

“You’re the best potioneer I know,” he said. “Really, Albus. If anyone in this school was going to pull it off, it would be you, but we’re still only Hogwarts students, and most people never learn how to do Alchemy. So, yeah, I’m a little surprised. Put me before the Wizengamot.”

Albus’ spirits were so high that Scorpius’ praise were enough to erase his momentary annoyance. He beamed down at his silver. He’d made something that usually only nature had control over. Even after months of trying, he had underestimated how elated he’d be.

“What will you do with it?”

Albus blinked at Scorpius, not quite comprehending the question at first.

“The silver,” Scorpius clarified, motioning at where it was still perched on his book. “Now that you have it, what will you do with it?”

Fighting against the heat rising in his cheeks, Albus ruffled his hair.

“Oh, uh...” He cleared his throat. “I should make something with it, right? It’s enough for a ring, I think. Would you want it if I made it?”

The last question came out so rushed that Albus deeply regretted having asked. He lowered his gaze to the table, trying to ignore the feel of Scorius’ eyes on him.

When the blonde didn’t say anything, Albus risked looking at him. His stomach twisted into knots at the look of astonishment on Scorpious’ face.

“Albus, you worked really hard on this. I don’t want to take it from you.”

Scorpius’ features twisted in discomfort, and feeling a surge of defensiveness, Albus scooted forward on his chair, almost hanging off the edge of it.

“No, no, you wouldn’t be taking it from me,” he insisted. “When have you known me to wear jewelry? The only silver I’ve got is in my house tie.”

It was true. He was pretty sure that he’d never put a piece of jewelry on in his life. Scorpius, however, had several rings, including one with the Malfoy family crest that he rarely took off. Albus wouldn’t admit it, but that had been his inspiration for undertaking Alchemy in the first place.

Scorpius laughed, shaking his head at Albus.

“Then why exactly did you decide to make the silver?” he asked.

It was nothing more than a joke, not meant to be taken seriously, but Albus took the bait. The moment when he would finally share his feelings with Scorpius had occupied his imagination for months. He’d obsessed over what he would say, yet his hands shook and his ears rang as he finally said it.

“This is why I made it. I wanted to make something for you.”

Scorpius froze, his eyes growing wide.

“For me?” he questioned in a shaky voice. “You spent months learning how to make this silver just to make me something?”

With it finally out in the world, Albus felt more daring than he ever had before when confronting the truth of his feelings.

“Yes.”

Scorpius stared at him, and Albus stayed as still as possible, as if one move would make it seem like he wasn’t treating the situation with the seriousness it deserved. The last thing he needed was for his honest confession to be taken as a joke.

“Why?” Scorpius asked.

He leaned forward, his grey eyes intent on Albus.

Suddenly bashful once again, Albus shrugged and looked down at the table.

“Seems like it should be really obvious by now that I like you as more than a friend, Scorp.”

The silence stretched on for a few agonizing moments. Albus continued to stare at the table, frightened to look up and see Scorpius watching him with confusion or, Merlin forbid, horror.

When Scorpius reached across the table, though, Albus’ gaze shot up, and his heart skipped a beat at the grin on Scorpius’ lips. Albus took the offered hand and sighed. He felt steady once more and brave enough to offer Scorpius a smile.

“You know,” Scorpius said with a smirk, “learning Alchemy to impress your crush who’s already your best friend and has been secretly into you for years is a little over the top, Potter.”

Albus groaned and tried to pull his hand away, but Scorpius held on tight.

“I’m not saying I don’t like it,” he added with a laugh that made his face light up.

Albus swallowed, finally processing everything Scorpius had said.

“You’ve liked me for years?” he repeated, dumbfounded.

Scorpius snorted and shook his head. With the hand that wasn’t holding Albus’, he picked up the silver and ran his thumb over it.

“I thought it was obvious,” he said with a shrug. “But I guess if you were waiting for me to create freaking silver for you then you may have missed it.”

Albus rolled his eyes, but the pink of his cheeks gave away his embarrassment.

He held out his palm and smiled when Scorpius dropped the silver pebble into it.

“I don’t actually know how to make a ring,” he admitted, cringing when Scorpius laughed.

“Maybe we should take it to a jeweler,” Scorpius said softly. “You’ve done more than enough already.”

Albus scowled but couldn’t stop himself from grinning when Scorpius leaned across the table to give him a kiss on the cheek.


End file.
